Strengths and Challenges

Content Knowledge

My subject-area knowledge is library studies, developed through university study and practical work in a public library. My knowledge covers a mixture of theoretical understanding of subjects such as leadership and supervision models, but also covers practical procedures in cataloguing, reference desk work, acquisitions, information literacy, circulation desk duties, use of library management systems, readers' advisory, and customer service. Most educational suppliers of library courses seek ALIA (Australian and Library Information Association) accreditation to ensure they are meeting industry standards. State Library, Government departments and changing customer needs can also influence course content.

A major challenge is keeping abreast of the changes in a rapidly and constantly changing environment. Growth in e-resources and online content creation has meant changes to both acquisitions and cataloguing work processes with RDA  (Resource Description and Access) standards now being incorporated into cataloguing procedures. Reference desk work has also to adapt to these changes. Many areas such as copyright, legal and moral issues are still catching up, and are still in development mode, with no definite guidelines or global standardization in place.

Pedagogy

My teaching experience is minimal, but from my workplace I have developed an ability to deal with different age groups, backgrounds, educational levels and needs. This has increased my understanding of different learning styles and this, combined with theoretical knowledge of learning acquired during this course, has given me a good basis from which to improve my knowledge.  As a student of library studies I have been on the receiving end of teaching and this helps identify areas of weaknesses and strengths in methods used.

In my current workplace the challenge is that there is no set curriculum and no particular timeframes; training is served on a needs basis.  From the perspective of teaching online library studies, challenges would occur in maintaining flexibility of the course to meet student's needs and yet still implement collaborative and social media engagement activities that will reflect industry practice.

Technology

I completed an IT course several years ago and although I'm not totally conversant with all the latest technology I do find it easy to adapt. My early training in this area has given me solid foundations to build upon and I totally enjoy exploring new technologies. I consider this a major strength. Spending some time as an online student has helped me develop a sense of what works and what doesn't when implementing technology into e-learning design. The challenge would be choosing the best technology for the purpose from the wide range available,  and choosing something that will have have more than short term relevancy and will suit different levels of technological skills.

Finally, I would like to share Andrew Churches views on what he sees as a librarian's role today. I found the comments interesting. See http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2013/04/24/what-is-the-role-of-the-librarian/